Planning Permission

Planning Permission and Building Regulations can be a worry whilst trying to improve your home. Homeshield take care of this aspect of your improvement giving you a piece of mind. Leaving you to deal with the more pleasurable part of your home improvement, the look and feel of your improvement.

Planning Permission and Building Regulations...what is the difference?
Planning Permission and Building Regulations sometimes cause confusion. The responsibility with these issues both lay with the Local Authority, Planning Permission takes into consideration the aesthetic effect of a new building/extension on the surrounding homes and neighbourhood, whilst Building Regulations define how the structure must be constructed in terms of thermal efficiency.
Is planning permission essential?

Homeshield will handle this on your behalf, for your reference here is an evaluation of the basic valid points. In the majority of projects you won't require any planning permission for your conservatory under the present legislation, however if you are adding a conservatory to your home and it has already been extended. You will need to clarify if your home is a ‘new build’ this is due to them often having restrictions in place. You might be able to build several conservatories without needing planning permission that you may have needed. There are rules that have to be adhered to that will ensure you remain exempt from them.

* They are built at ground level and are less than 30 square metres in floor area.
* At least half of the new wall and three quarters of the roof is either glazed or translucent material.
* The conservatory is separated from the house by external quality door(s).
* Glazing and any fixed electrical installations comply with the applicable building regulations requirements. From 1st October 2008 new rules for conservatories and extensions took affect which replaced the old rules and affect conservatories as follows:

From 1st October 2008 new rules for conservatories and extensions took affect they replaced the old rules and affected conservatories as follows:

* No extension forward of the principal elevation or side elevation fronting a highway. This means that any conservatory on the front or side of a house that will be closer to a public highway than the original house will need planning permission. A highway is any public right of way including footpaths.

* Maximum depth of a single-storey rear extension of three metres for an attached house and four metres for a detached house. The width of a conservatory running along the back length of a house is not constrained at all unless it projects beyond the house which is constrained by rule 3. A house is only detached if there is no solid structure connecting it to a neighbour. A "link" house is th ere fore not detached nor would be two houses with a common garage. The rules on what counts as being detached have not changed from the previous ones.

* Side extensions to be single storey with maximum height of four metres and width no more than half that of the original house.

* Maximum eaves height of an extension within two metres of the boundary of three metres from the lowest point on the ground.

* No verandas, balconies or raised platforms.

* On designated land no permitted development for rear extensions of more than one storey; no cladding of the exterior; no side extensions.

* No more than half the area of land around the "original house" would be covered by additions or other buildings.

* Maximum height of a single-storey rear extension of four metres.

* While permitted development rights now allow for the construction of many conservatories without planning permission items 1 and 2 above may still limit their size and material construction if you want to avoid building regulations. If a conservatory you are building does not meet any of the above four rules then it will have to adhere to building regulations in full.

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